Brewing Efficiencies vs Strict Recipe Adherence. Please Help

[MACADAY]

Awesome. Thank you BDawg, JoeBeer and Ozwald you guys are awesome. Here is where I'm going with this... I am agreeing with everything you guys are saying, and I'm realizing that maybe a little more detail should have went into my initial post. But. My plan isn't really going against what you are saying either.

First let me elaborate on the buying of bulk thing.. All I'm trying to do here is consolidate ingredients for these brews into an Excel sheet(this is done) so that I can identify where I should indeed purchase sacks. The less-than sack amount purchases are easy enough to pickup the day of or week prior to brewing. That will also help to ensure freshness(hopefully:). (this is relatively figured out. My questions are more on the rest of my post)

As for a lager.. If one slipped in there that's my bad because there shouldn't be one. I'm not equipped to do that just yet. (FNG I know)

Let me elaborate on the proposed schedule a little and tell me what you think..

I brew today, it reaches it's FG in say..3 weeks. I then move to secondary at my friends request(I'm more of an extended primary guy myself) it then sits for an additional 3 weeks in a fermenter. On week 6 we bottle. Taste at 7+ weeks.

Now, obviously there may be some other steps involved like dry-hopping or other recipe specific items but that's why I use Microsoft Project.

MACADAY

[JoeBeer100]

I brew today, it reaches it's FG in say..3 weeks. I then move to secondary at my friends request(I'm more of an extended primary guy myself) it then sits for an additional 3 weeks in a fermenter. On week 6 we bottle. Taste at 7+ weeks.

While final gravity is a good indication that the yeast has consumed the sugars, it doesn't mean that's the end of the yeast's activity. I don't know the science of the whole thing (read Jamil Zainasheff and Chris White's book, "Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation" and report back to me) but, from what I understand, longer is better than shorter in terms of primary fermentation time. Some folks fear the beer sitting on the yeast too long like it will lead to a funky batch. But I don't think you'll find a homebrewer with a decent sense of sanitization who has ever had a problem keeping the beer on the yeast too long.

[BDawg]

Sounds like a decent plan then.
I agree with Joe about autolysis basically being a non-issue for homebrew volumes. For pros, who have massive pressure at the bottom of their tanks, autolysis is a very harsh reality that must be avoided.

So, go for it. If you have questions, just ask them here. You'll get a fast, accurate answer, and maybe a few fart jokes along the way too.

[MACADAY]

Sounds like a decent plan then.
I agree with Joe about autolysis basically being a non-issue for homebrew volumes. For pros, who have massive pressure at the bottom of their tanks, autolysis is a very harsh reality that must be avoided.

So, go for it. If you have questions, just ask them here. You'll get a fast, accurate answer, and maybe a few fart jokes along the way too.

I'm not sure if that's sarcastic or not

I would really like to hear more from the BN on this.

-MACADAY

[TheDarkSide]

When I schedule my brews for the next few batches, I will also arrange them so I can reuse the yeast if possible. It saves me time (not having to build a starter) and money (not having to buy another vial of yeast), especially with lagers.

Of course I had a great schedule laid out for brewing for NHC but family commitments, weather, and some batches just not cooperating messed with that.

[BDawg]

Sounds like a decent plan then.
I agree with Joe about autolysis basically being a non-issue for homebrew volumes. For pros, who have massive pressure at the bottom of their tanks, autolysis is a very harsh reality that must be avoided.

So, go for it. If you have questions, just ask them here. You'll get a fast, accurate answer, and maybe a few fart jokes along the way too.

I'm not sure if that's sarcastic or not

I would really like to hear more from the BN on this.

-MACADAY

Nope, it was not meant to be sarcastic. You have a plan that seems generally pretty solid. Go for it!
It doesn't matter if some of the small details might be done differently by other folks in this case.
You'll find the things that work well for you, and you'll adjust whatever you find that doesn't,
which is cool. We all have to feel our own way through this as we are getting the hang of it. Its all good.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

Sounds like a decent plan then.
I agree with Joe about autolysis basically being a non-issue for homebrew volumes. For pros, who have massive pressure at the bottom of their tanks, autolysis is a very harsh reality that must be avoided.

So, go for it. If you have questions, just ask them here. You'll get a fast, accurate answer, and maybe a few fart jokes along the way too.

I'm not sure if that's sarcastic or not

I would really like to hear more from the BN on this.

-MACADAY

Nope, it was not meant to be sarcastic. You have a plan that seems generally pretty solid. Go for it!
It doesn't matter if some of the small details might be done differently by other folks in this case.
You'll find the things that work well for you, and you'll adjust whatever you find that doesn't,
which is cool. We all have to feel our own way through this as we are getting the hang of it. Its all good.

Everybody has a slightly different process. So what I tell you to do, BDawg may shoot down. As long as it works for you, then it's good. The most important thing: have fun.

[spiderwrangler]

I agree with Joe about autolysis basically being a non-issue for homebrew volumes. For pros, who have massive pressure at the bottom of their tanks, autolysis is a very harsh reality that must be avoided.

I also think it is a hold over from older recipes/brewers that were using lower quality yeast pitches in the past.

If you are asking about bulk buying, it's gonna depend on your preferences, as well as ease of getting the malt. If your recipes use a few common base malts, you can go ahead and get them all up front and use them as needed. Or if you don't have the space, you can buy as needed in bulk, unless you get additional discounts by purchasing multiple sacks at a time. Keep in mind that for the most part, all the barley is harvested at the same time of the year, so as long as you are storing it as well as the shop, it doesn't matter if you buy it 'fresh' or not.